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still got chance to post, best is, whoever the winner LD,LCW, CJ, TH, PG
after seal the last point, must shake hand first before celebrating
or else just brand the winner as hypocrite and looser who just walk away
as sore looser....how you guys think???
can close thread now???
btw, congratulations to LD again....

in the japan open final 2010, the ending was fraught with many errors particularly from lin dan and the rallies were mostly short ones. lin dan allowed lcw to pull ahead too far in the 3rd set and in the end lcw was too close to the finishing for him to catch-up. he clearly acknowledged his wrong selection of shots & strategy by tapping his head (with his racket) with remorse immediately after the handshake which incidentally was much more gracious from a losing side than the most recent. i feel the pace was faster towards the end probably due to lcw's strategy to increase it a notch thus disallowing lin dan time to select his shots and gain control of the game. this led to some unforced errors at very vital moments. at 17-19 down, one would have thought lin dan would steadily resumed control and probably catch up to turn the pressure back onto lcw but instead he made a rather hasty shot to send the shuttle out by a mile. i think lin dan's winning strategy against lcw would be to remain calm and patient and thrive on mistakes from lcw in long rallies. with shot anticipation and reduced no. of unforced errors, lin dan would be able to make lcw work the court and take the sting out of his attacks; thus controlling the game and demoralising his opponent. at their high level, the mental strength and discipline to stick to a winning game plan is essential especially when both are familiar with each other's game.

let's compare both players' attributes - their fitness and age are equally matched but lcw is a least a few kg lighter than lin dan (lcw's bmi is 20.76 against lin dan's 22.1). hence, lcw is faster and would probably reign over lin dan in a fast-paced game. however, lin dan's edge i reckon is his ability to control the net and place his shots at the deep corners to tire his opponent and prevent them from attacking at will. this is quite similar to gade's game but lin dan is a shade faster, fitter and more consistent. in a game like last week where both players are at their peak form and not giving away easy points, the only way lcw can overcome lin dan would be to speed things up a little to rattle lin dan at the risk of making mistakes himself and tiring out in the 3rd set. in short, given the same amount of pressure on both players, lin dan tend to come out stronger psychologically and making less unforced errors. his determination to win a point is also stronger under such similar circumstances.